'1971 War:US wanted China to back Pak'

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'US wanted China to back Pak militarily in 1971'

 

Press Trust of India

 

Washington, May 7, 2005

Fearing that Soviets might get involved in the 1971 Indo-Pak war,

then US President Richard Nixon had wanted China to make coordinated

military moves in support of Pakistan, according to documents

released by the State Department.

 

The Nixon Administration was not prepared to involve itself in a

civil war on the Indian subcontinent. Nor did it pay much attention

to Indian concerns about "the carnage in East Pakistan" and the

problems of refugees in West Bengal, said a State Department press

release giving the gist of the papers on the Bangladesh war of

liberation, released on Friday.

 

But, the signing of the India-Soviet Union Treaty of Peace,

Friendship, and Cooperation in August 1971, while not a mutual

security treaty, was viewed in Washington as a blank check to India

in its confrontation with Pakistan, it said.

 

The US policy included support of Pakistan in UN and pressure on

Soviets to discourage India, with hints that US-Soviet detente would

be in jeopardy if Moscow did not comply.

 

At Nixon's instruction, his Assistance for National Security Affairs

Henry Kissinger met China's Ambassador to the UN Huang Hua to suggest

that Beijing make coordinated military moves in support of Pakistan.

The implication conveyed by Kissinger was that if the Soviets

responded militarily, the US would support China in any confrontation

with Soviet Union.

http://hindustantimes.com/news/181_1352152,00050001.htm?

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